A smile – the key to everybody’s heart? The interactive effects of image and message in increasing charitable behavior

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how to improve the effectiveness of charitable advertising by matching emotional appeal (happy-faced vs sad-faced beneficiary) and message framing (recognition vs request) within advertising messages.

Design/methodology/approach

Two experiments examining real donation allocations were conducted. Study 1 established the “match-up” effect between advertising image and message. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 as well as testing the mediating role of hope and sympathy.

Findings

The authors provide empirical evidence that consumers allocate a greater donation amount to a charity when they see an image of a sad-faced child combined with a request message (e.g. “please donate”), or an image of a happy-faced child combined with a recognition message (e.g. “thank you”). Notably, these effects are mediated by the emotions of hope and sympathy, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

This research highlights the importance of matching images of beneficiaries with the appropriate advertising copy. Depending on whether a charity seeks to position itself in a positive perspective to evoke hope, or alternatively, portray itself in relation to a sadder landscape that elicits sympathy, the respective choice of recognition or request messages can help boost donation outcomes.

Practical implications

Charities and non-profit organizations can develop more effective charitable advertising by purposively matching specific emotional appeals and message framings when designing advertisements.

Originality/value

The research illustrates a novel mechanism that shows when and how combining image and message can influence the effectiveness of charitable advertising.

Citation

Pham, C. and Septianto, F. (2019), "A smile – the key to everybody’s heart? The interactive effects of image and message in increasing charitable behavior", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54 No. 2, pp. 261-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2019-0019